This blog is about struggles for the control of corporations. For the most part, I'll focus on public corporations headquartered in the United States, issuing securities according to the rules stipulated by the SEC in Washington and (typically) governing their affairs by the laws and judicial decisions of the state of Delaware.
My own prejudices are ... well, I think I'll let you work them out as we proceed day to day.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

China v. Four Rio Tinto Execs

On July 5, 2009, four Rio Tinto employees, one of whom is a citizen of Australia, were arrested in Shanghai for corruption and espionage. The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with two headquarters -- one in the UK, the other in Melbourne, Australia. Rio Tinto was founded in 1873, and is named for the site of its first mine, on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain.

The four defendants are to be put on trial this week. Their names: Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang, Wang Yong, ands the Australian citizen, Stern Ho. They were initially charged with stealing state secrets, which is a capital offense. Perhaps in response to diplomatic protests from Canberra, that charge was dropped, and they stand accused now of taking bribes and related acts of corruption.

Foreign businesses will be looking carefully at the trial as an object lesson in the risks of doing business in the People's Republic.

Question: is this trial really just revenge for the failure of the Chinalco deal? Chinalco is the major Chinese state controlled mining enterprise that offered in early 2009 to make a major infusion of cash into Rio Tinto in return for ownership interest in certain assets. Stockholders in Rio Tinto didn't think they were getting a fair shake, and the deal never went through.